Inspiration for all posts See The Peak Performance Monkey
Who among you has failed to come through in the big race? And by “come through” I mean run the race you believe you are capable of when it really counts.
Hi coach,
I’m pretty much on track with my Phase I (base) training. I'm running at approx the same time every morning, alternating surfaces, becoming more confident and consistent with the hard/easy concept. I have to say, it's difficult to avoid the hills here in Sedona. Hope this won't sabotage the effort.
Big Question: Should I gradually increase my weekly long run during this Base Building phase?
Thanks again for the program. I'm pumped
Garry -
Great to hear from you! I hope you are enjoying Sedona - it's got to be one of the most beautiful places in the country. You are absolutely right on the hills though in the red rock area. It's virtually impossible to run any direction & not at least get a steady gradual up or downhill grade.
Your observation on the hils is quite intuitive. As far as the overall training program - NOT TO WORRY ...---- AS LONG AS :
1) You are insuring that you are STRETCHING your hip flexors & calf muscles a LOT more during your regular post run program. While gaining in strength (the feature of hill training that runners seem to dwell upon. There is a negative "side-effect". Hills tend to "shorten" muscle fibers of the legs. This leads to muscle tightness & reduced range of
motion and (in mot cases with people that do a LOT of hills) - INJURIES (specifically a) IT Band Syndrome, Patellar Tendonitis, Achilles Tendonitis and shin problems) and foster muscle imbalances by increasing the quad strength at the expense of the glutes (if not run correctly).
2) Make certain you use the "Flex + Roll & Push" technique I talk about in running downhill. Description: a) Upon foot impact; FLEX the knee to absorb the shock to the body then b) ROLL the body weight completely across the foot as your center of gravity travels forward then c) PUSH forward with the toe to "launch" the body forward to take advantage of the downhill & gravity.
NEVER "LOCK" the knee out on a downhill!
As far as the longer runs are concerned - GREAT & NO PROBLEM as long as you respect the 4 - 6 week cycle. Don't try to do too much to soon. If after 4 weeks of constant mileage & a set long run you feel confiden you can do more....add a couple miles or minutes. BUT..make certain you "come down" in the mileage after two weeks to allow your body to adapt & fully recover.
Just "BANK" the miles this summer - the GREAT RACING will be this fall.
Let's just focus on BASE BUILDING & STRENGTH. We will make the "withdrawal"...at the Phoenix 5k/10k & the best of the BIG RACES with
COMPETITION when it's really important. No need to "peak out" at the "Aunt Sylvia 5k Run Benefit & Horsefly Social" in July.........
Have a GREAT SUMMER- We miss you and you sense of humor!
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Monday, August 17, 2009
The Journey of a thousand steps begins...
Update 6/1/09
Inspiration for all posts See The Peak Performance Monkey
First run in Sedona. First run of LD Era II-second year. Bernice and I have rented a condo located off HW 89 A in west Sedona. Our home for the summer, and the launch point for most of my training runs, is nestled into a condo complex called Nepenthe. Nepenthe historically refers to an elixir or a place where one can escape negative thoughts, feelings or experiences. I’m hoping Nepenthe will work on me too. Make me quickly forget stressful workouts so that I can remain positive about my training.
Today’s run is a three miler on the paved road and cement walkways of the two streets that border Nepenthe, Shelby and Sunset. These two streets run parallel for about 0.6 mile and then Shelby wraps around a brief commercial area and becomes Sunset after a steep, arduous (from my point of view) climb. Considering the strategic placement and the challenging incline, I will henceforward refer to this stretch as the Shelby Shuffle. Today, I approached the Shuffle initially from Sunset which meant that I had to run down hill in the dark (I’ve decided to start my runs between 4 and 4:30 am). After completing the downhill run I curve around to head up Shelby toward HW 89 A. This is a gradual uphill with sufficient length to allow for some good pace work.
My turn-around point is HW 89 A. I tap the traffic light pole for luck and head back down Shelby to the Shelby Shuffle. From this direction the Shuffle runs uphill and shows its true colors: steep at the beginning, steeper in the middle, and even steeper as one approaches the top. As I chugged up the Shuffle today I was beset by Ragnar Relay (last February) flashbacks. My first Ragnar Relay leg had started in Prescott (6,000 ft. elevation) and nearly three miles of my 3.6 mile leg were uphill in similar fashion to this Sedona climb. The Prescott climb was longer; I don’t know how many times I thought ‘surely the hill will crest around the next corner’. Of course it never did. The Shelby Shuffle was steeper, but thankfully much shorter.
Inspiration for all posts See The Peak Performance Monkey
First run in Sedona. First run of LD Era II-second year. Bernice and I have rented a condo located off HW 89 A in west Sedona. Our home for the summer, and the launch point for most of my training runs, is nestled into a condo complex called Nepenthe. Nepenthe historically refers to an elixir or a place where one can escape negative thoughts, feelings or experiences. I’m hoping Nepenthe will work on me too. Make me quickly forget stressful workouts so that I can remain positive about my training.
Today’s run is a three miler on the paved road and cement walkways of the two streets that border Nepenthe, Shelby and Sunset. These two streets run parallel for about 0.6 mile and then Shelby wraps around a brief commercial area and becomes Sunset after a steep, arduous (from my point of view) climb. Considering the strategic placement and the challenging incline, I will henceforward refer to this stretch as the Shelby Shuffle. Today, I approached the Shuffle initially from Sunset which meant that I had to run down hill in the dark (I’ve decided to start my runs between 4 and 4:30 am). After completing the downhill run I curve around to head up Shelby toward HW 89 A. This is a gradual uphill with sufficient length to allow for some good pace work.
My turn-around point is HW 89 A. I tap the traffic light pole for luck and head back down Shelby to the Shelby Shuffle. From this direction the Shuffle runs uphill and shows its true colors: steep at the beginning, steeper in the middle, and even steeper as one approaches the top. As I chugged up the Shuffle today I was beset by Ragnar Relay (last February) flashbacks. My first Ragnar Relay leg had started in Prescott (6,000 ft. elevation) and nearly three miles of my 3.6 mile leg were uphill in similar fashion to this Sedona climb. The Prescott climb was longer; I don’t know how many times I thought ‘surely the hill will crest around the next corner’. Of course it never did. The Shelby Shuffle was steeper, but thankfully much shorter.
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
The Peak-Performance Monkey
The ship has sailed, but we launch today. The ship officially embarked on Sunday, June 1, 2009. That day marked my first official training day for perhaps the most important race in my life. But the designated chronicle of this voyage, this blog, is just now getting out of dry dock. So today’s blog entry must serve as the christening of the flag ship, blog name garrygoingforward, which will reach its destination on January 17, 2010.
For quick reference I have included the heading from my training program. I would have laid the whole logo on you, but to date I haven’t gotten permission to mention names either of my coaches or my club, so you will just have to believe that I didn’t make this up myself. Add my goal race time of one hour and fifty eight minutes, and you have the entire mission statement.
2009 TRAINING FORMAT – Half - Marathon Build-up
ATHLETE: GARRY COX AGE: 66 Advanced Runner
PRIMARY GOAL RACE: PF Chang’s RNR-AZ HALF - MARATHON – January 17, 2010
So who doesn’t have a big race scheduled in the upcoming year? Who doesn’t have a training plan? Who hasn’t done some research and come up with the running wisdom of the ages? Good questions, all. But let me ask one more. Who among you has failed to come through in the big race? And by “come through” I mean run the race you believe you are capable of when it really counts.
As a long distance runner and age group sprinter, I have had my moments. In 1992 I was voted the third best distance runner for my age group (50-54) in the greater Metropolitan Detroit area. In my subsequent ten plus years of Maters Track and Field, I won so many gold medals I started giving them to my students for outstanding work in the classroom.
As a sprinter I have been rated in the top five nationally on several occasions. I should point out that these were in-season ratings. When the smoked cleared at the end of the competition year, I was always eclipsed by superior performances. Likewise, none of my gold medals came from any world or national championships, although I have competed in both.
Now, I can live without being the LD stud or the age-group superstar I once dreamed about becoming. But what sticks in my craw is the fact that not once in all the big races I’ve competed in, did I bring my “A” game. And though it’s unlikely I will ever win a national championship, there have been years that, had I run my best, I could have made the ultimate number three or four guy pretty nervous. So I’m not bitter, I just have a huge monkey I want to get off my back; the monkey of never peaking at the right time. So this is my voyage, my quest if you will. I have dedicated myself this year to achieving my goal performance in the race that counts the most, the PF Chang Half Marathon.
I humbly invite you to join my quest. I welcome your advice, your stories, your goals and your successes. And as they say on TNT, characters welcome.
For quick reference I have included the heading from my training program. I would have laid the whole logo on you, but to date I haven’t gotten permission to mention names either of my coaches or my club, so you will just have to believe that I didn’t make this up myself. Add my goal race time of one hour and fifty eight minutes, and you have the entire mission statement.
2009 TRAINING FORMAT – Half - Marathon Build-up
ATHLETE: GARRY COX AGE: 66 Advanced Runner
PRIMARY GOAL RACE: PF Chang’s RNR-AZ HALF - MARATHON – January 17, 2010
So who doesn’t have a big race scheduled in the upcoming year? Who doesn’t have a training plan? Who hasn’t done some research and come up with the running wisdom of the ages? Good questions, all. But let me ask one more. Who among you has failed to come through in the big race? And by “come through” I mean run the race you believe you are capable of when it really counts.
As a long distance runner and age group sprinter, I have had my moments. In 1992 I was voted the third best distance runner for my age group (50-54) in the greater Metropolitan Detroit area. In my subsequent ten plus years of Maters Track and Field, I won so many gold medals I started giving them to my students for outstanding work in the classroom.
As a sprinter I have been rated in the top five nationally on several occasions. I should point out that these were in-season ratings. When the smoked cleared at the end of the competition year, I was always eclipsed by superior performances. Likewise, none of my gold medals came from any world or national championships, although I have competed in both.
Now, I can live without being the LD stud or the age-group superstar I once dreamed about becoming. But what sticks in my craw is the fact that not once in all the big races I’ve competed in, did I bring my “A” game. And though it’s unlikely I will ever win a national championship, there have been years that, had I run my best, I could have made the ultimate number three or four guy pretty nervous. So I’m not bitter, I just have a huge monkey I want to get off my back; the monkey of never peaking at the right time. So this is my voyage, my quest if you will. I have dedicated myself this year to achieving my goal performance in the race that counts the most, the PF Chang Half Marathon.
I humbly invite you to join my quest. I welcome your advice, your stories, your goals and your successes. And as they say on TNT, characters welcome.
Friday, July 17, 2009
On Moving Forward
On the importance of the physical body on writing and other human endeavors: Excerpted from One Continuous Mistake by Gail Sher
Jack Kerouac paraphrased
…writing, like meditation and self-realization, is an athletic, physical accomplishment.
… Human language derives from the physical nature of man
Jack Kerouac quoted
It was the nerves and not the intellect which created speech.
My take on these Kerouac-isms is that the physical activity one undertakes will have a profound and varying impact on ones writing. Admittedly, I have a convoluted creative process. I’m convinced that writing is precursor to thinking and not the other way round. I write, therefore I think, if you will. My primary physical activities are running and hiking. I once thought that I ran to create endorphins which, in addition to making me feel good (runner’s high) made me think more ambitiously about running. Faster, farther, more accolades, that sort of thing. Hiking, on the other hand, with its pedestrian pace and its “let’s take it all in” mind-set, produces a much greater variety of thought. Projects are born, wrongs are righted, to-do lists are completed. However, my running since June 4, 2008 has given me cause to upgrade the influence of running on my creative process. I am now convinced that running serves as backdrop, perhaps even catalyst for full blown thoughts and ideas that have made their way into my writing, and therefore my thinking. On my longer runs I will even ape my hiking by stopping to jot down a thought or an observation.
I have a more dimly defined conviction that the human body was designed to move forward for great periods of time. Maybe this is a male thing. You know, the hunting and the rain cloud chasing. More probably it was a trait made necessary by the nomadic existence of early human conclaves. I do know that whenever I ignore this design, my body and my social life deteriorate. The bodily deterioration would be obvious so a quick word about my social life. Long ago I was a gadfly turned barfly. I was content to over-indulge in spirits and engage in endless spirit driven banter. As a result I grew fat and boorish and had to leave town (Detroit) to escape suicide through boredom. I moved to Arizona, started running after a thirty year hiatus, and have never looked back. As to my new social life, I’m not saying that all my friends and colleagues are runners. But they are all moving forward with their lives. And when they look at me, I hope they see the same thing. I have concluded that running and hiking are reservoirs of energy that both fuel and guide my writing. Both satisfy my need to be a forward looking and moving person. Did I mention that I’m no longer fat?
Jack Kerouac paraphrased
…writing, like meditation and self-realization, is an athletic, physical accomplishment.
… Human language derives from the physical nature of man
Jack Kerouac quoted
It was the nerves and not the intellect which created speech.
My take on these Kerouac-isms is that the physical activity one undertakes will have a profound and varying impact on ones writing. Admittedly, I have a convoluted creative process. I’m convinced that writing is precursor to thinking and not the other way round. I write, therefore I think, if you will. My primary physical activities are running and hiking. I once thought that I ran to create endorphins which, in addition to making me feel good (runner’s high) made me think more ambitiously about running. Faster, farther, more accolades, that sort of thing. Hiking, on the other hand, with its pedestrian pace and its “let’s take it all in” mind-set, produces a much greater variety of thought. Projects are born, wrongs are righted, to-do lists are completed. However, my running since June 4, 2008 has given me cause to upgrade the influence of running on my creative process. I am now convinced that running serves as backdrop, perhaps even catalyst for full blown thoughts and ideas that have made their way into my writing, and therefore my thinking. On my longer runs I will even ape my hiking by stopping to jot down a thought or an observation.
I have a more dimly defined conviction that the human body was designed to move forward for great periods of time. Maybe this is a male thing. You know, the hunting and the rain cloud chasing. More probably it was a trait made necessary by the nomadic existence of early human conclaves. I do know that whenever I ignore this design, my body and my social life deteriorate. The bodily deterioration would be obvious so a quick word about my social life. Long ago I was a gadfly turned barfly. I was content to over-indulge in spirits and engage in endless spirit driven banter. As a result I grew fat and boorish and had to leave town (Detroit) to escape suicide through boredom. I moved to Arizona, started running after a thirty year hiatus, and have never looked back. As to my new social life, I’m not saying that all my friends and colleagues are runners. But they are all moving forward with their lives. And when they look at me, I hope they see the same thing. I have concluded that running and hiking are reservoirs of energy that both fuel and guide my writing. Both satisfy my need to be a forward looking and moving person. Did I mention that I’m no longer fat?
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